IMF deal does not mean business as usual - private-sector leaders

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Private-sector leaders say reports yesterday that Jamaica could have a new deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by month end will have some immediate positive impact, but warned that it cannot be business as usual. With the continued devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, the heads of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association (JMA), and the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) all agreed that stability in the foreign-exchange markets would be one of the immediate impacts of the pending IMF agreement. "Right now, there is a run on the (Jamaican) dollar. People are converting their Jamaican dollars into US, believing that foreign currency is safer," JCC president, Francis Kennedy, asserted yesterday.